With NFL commissioner Roger Goodell paying a visit to camp today, the Cleveland Browns took the field in Berea for an afternoon practice. Day 6 of training camp saw the players in full pads and shorts as they continue to prepare for the Family Fun Day session this Saturday at the stadium.
TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 6 (8/5/10)
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Down Day for Delhomme: It wasn't the greatest practice for veteran quarterback Jake Delhomme, as he channeled his inner Derek Anderson and tossed three picks during Thursday's practice. One of Delhomme's problems, along with our other quarterbacks, has been the number of deflected passes.
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D-Lineman Gets Interception: Case in point: defensive end Robaire Smith intercepted one of Delhomme's passes as it was tipped at the line of scrimmage. Later on, Delhomme also had one of his passes tipped by Chris Gocong, who continues to see action with the first team.
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Secondary Does the Rest: Most interceptions come from the defensive backs, so it should be of no surprise that Delhomme's other two picks went to Eric Wright and Abram Elam. The one to Wright came on a deep pass, and Elam snagged a pass in the end zone. Rather than saying Delhomme had a horrible day today, I'd like to think of this as our secondary being much improved this year (wishful thinking).
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Not Helping Him Out: Of course, a quarterback can only do so much when he receivers can't hang onto the football. Prior to two of Delhomme's interceptions, it seems that WR Brian Robiskie had two drops and TE Robert Royal had two drops. For Robiskie, it was one of his few "bad" moments of camp thus far.
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Cribbs to Wallace, Touchdown! <<< That subtitle sounds like fun, doesn't it? I can only hope someone captured some video of it, as it was reportedly one of the highlights of the day. Joshua Cribbs took the snap from the Shotgun and fired a pass to Seneca Wallace in the flat. Wallace than ran into the endzone untouched for the score.
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Get-Out-of-Practice-for-Free Cards: Two players got the day off from practice today because they won spring practice awards and cashed them in for the day off, and one player used their award Wednesday evening. Those players were all veterans -- safety Mike Adams, TE Ben Watson, and LB Eric Barton (the Wednesday player). Neither of the defensive players really need to prove anything, but it's projected that Adams' job is a hundred times more secure than Barton's.
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Stuckey in the Slot: Former Jets receiver Chansi Stuckey has looked comfortable in the slot in his first camp with the team. Stuckey suffered a leg injury during the practice session and was limited the rest of the way, but he should be fine. Dawg Scooper notes that at times, the Browns decided to have tight end Evan Moore on the field in the slot instead of Stuckey. I'm really digging the thought of using Moore like how the Colts use Dallas Clark.
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Pashos: A Case of Food Poisoning: Right tackle Tony Pashos told the OBR that the reason he missed the first few days of camp was that he had a case of food poisoning. Since returning to action, he has been getting reps with the first-team offense.
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Haden Returning Kicks: One of the extra duties that rookie cornerback Joe Haden added to his special teams repertoire was the ability to return kickoffs. Having Haden as a backup could hurt the roster chances of defensive back Gerard Lawson.
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Once Lost, But Now Found: It's remarkable that even though Syndric Steptoe has been in every practice session, and undoubtedly participating often, but has not received much press. Lucky him, he did have some reports on him today. Steve Doerschuk noted that Steptoe was seeing a lot of balls thrown his way on the second-team offense by Wallace. Daniel Wolf at Dawg Scooper discusses the underrated speed than Steptoe has and how he could emerge as a dark horse at the position, especially if the team likes his versatility in being able to return kicks. Maybe the team doesn't keep a veteran (Engram) or rookie (Mitchell, Haggerty), but instead settles with Steptoe?
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The Rep Chart: Running back James Davis saw more reps than Jerome Harrison did today, according to Dawg Scooper. I can only imagine that this is a result of Mangini's previously discussed "rep chart," in which players at a position have a set amount of reps designated for them. If the Browns are to carry two fullbacks and three running backs, then Davis seems to be ahead of Chris Jennings on the depth chart.
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Injury Report: Fullback Peyton Hillis seems close to returning, and Mangini stated that punter Dave Zastudil should make his return Friday, perhaps putting him in line to be ready for the Saturday scrimmage.
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Dawson Connects: Long-time kicker Phil Dawson has been Mr. Reliable, connecting on field goals left and right this camp, at least from normal range.
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No Ruling from Goodell: Unfortunately, Roger Goodell did not provide any updates as to whether Shaun Rogers and/or Robaire Smith would face consequences from the league. On another note, Sirius NFL Radio was at camp today. Over at the OBR, one of their posters did a nice recap of the radio program (scroll a few posts down). Unfortunately, I spaced out and forgot to listen to the show like I've done in the past.
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Brownies: RG Floyd Womack played with the first team along with RT Tony Pashos...the scrimmage on Saturday will not feature live tackling...DB Chris Roberson will miss a few weeks due to a leg injury suffered Wednesday morning.
Thursday's Link Collection / Camp Sources
- Training camp observations from 8/5 practice (Dawg Scooper, Wolf)
- Observations from Browns training camp (Akron Beacon Journal, Ulrich)
- Remembering old Sweaty...Wallace and Cribbs doing their thing (Canton Repository, Doerschuk)
- Browns practice notes from Thursday, Aug. 5 (Plain Dealer, Cabot)
- Pashos reveals reason for absence (The OBR, Greetham)
The Browns practice Friday afternoon from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m, and the weather is supposed to be great with a high only near 80 degrees.